The parliament building in the Marshall Islands was destroyed by a fire early Tuesday morning.
Journalist Chewy Lin received an early morning text about the blaze and went to take a look. He said the fire started in a storage container next to the building, and police were on the scene.
“Our fire truck was having problems, so we don’t have a fire truck,” Lin said. “So they needed to get the fire truck from the airport, about 40 minutes.”
As the container burned, there was no sign of the fire truck.
“Almost immediately, the wind changed direction,” Lin said. The fire spread to the roof of the parliament building, fueled by the wind.
When the firefighters arrived, low water pressure and high wind hindered their efforts.
“The fire truck was trying to put down the fire on the roof,” Lin said. “It went wild. The parliament house is basically built of wood.”
“It was too late,” he said.
The fire was still smoldering early Tuesday afternoon, Lin said, but “the building is pretty much gone.”
